Chapter 91

[Slaughterhouse livestream has started]

Countless interstellar citizens flooded into the livestream, seeing the black mecha legion led by Yan Yan swiftly surrounding the entire research facility.

[Thud, Thud, Thud!]

The three-meter-tall black mechas marched in unison, their crimson eyes lighting up simultaneously, wielding heavy weapons.

Upon Yan Yan’s command to attack, the three hundred mechas simultaneously raised their quantum firearms.

The guns rotated at high speed, firing incessantly, shattering the facility’s reinforced glass in an instant.

The barrage of gunfire lit up half the sky.

Amid the smoke, the powerful black mechas carved a path through the facility.

The relentless firepower of the black mechas threw the facility into chaos.

Alarms blared overhead, and panicked researchers ran in all directions.

The first to respond notified the nearby patrol fleet, and the facility’s guard team quickly deployed their mechas.

Three ultra-star-class mechas ascended above the facility.

Boom!

The mechas activated berserk mode, moving through the black mechas’ ranks, dropping numerous heavy artillery shells.

The asteroid shook violently.

“Hurry! Inform everyone to take shelter in the underground base,” the guard captain shouted into the communicator.

The panicked researchers finally reacted, quickly pressing the emergency buttons to unlock the underground passage doors.

The three ultra-star-class mechas tried to halt the black mechas’ advance.

But if it were that easy to stop them, they wouldn’t be black mechas.

Four years ago, black mechas were only star-class, with outdated intelligent systems, and already troubled the alliance.

After four years of upgrades, the black mechas were now like a trained elite force, piercing straight into the enemy’s heart.

The highly intelligent unmanned mechas had their reaction speed and strength pushed to the limit.

Even without their destructive bombardment capability, they remained fiercely formidable.

Their numerical superiority further maximized the black mechas’ effectiveness.

The three ultra-star-class mechas from the research facility managed to suppress the black mechas for five minutes using their superior class, but then the black mechas launched a comprehensive counterattack.

“Black mechas and unmanned mechas are entirely different beasts.”

“Just imagine if Ji Fu leads thousands of black mechas in an attack.”

In the chaos, a sudden alarm sounded from the research facility.

The buildings, bombarded by the black mechas, collapsed into the ground with a loud crash.

In their place emerged a massive black turret.

This black turret was equipped with hundreds of cannon barrels.

As soon as it rose, the countless barrels aimed at the black mechas on the ground.

Instant lock-on.

Ji Fu paused as she saw the warning pop-up from Yan Yan.

[Alert! Ultra-star-class bombardment weapon]

Qin Chu Yue’s face darkened beside her. “…They’ve turned the entire research facility into a heavy weapon.”

“If anything goes wrong, this weapon can be directly detonated.”

The hundreds of barrels weren’t the critical part of this weapon; the focus was on the raised portion.

That was where the ultra-star-class bombardment cannon was stored.

Being experts in bombardment, they could easily identify the design focus of this heavy weapon.

But unlike this weapon, Ji Fu’s batch of black mechas didn’t have bombardment devices.

Their attack method was point-to-point precision strikes.

Qin Chu Yue quickly calculated the power of this heavy weapon, switching between different black mecha perspectives.

“It’s indeed ultra-star-class. If it self-destructs, this asteroid will be blown to bits,” she said solemnly.

Ji Fu paused, then opened the control panel.

On the regional network, the positions of the black mechas appeared as red dots, while the guard troops were green dots.

The ultra-star-class heavy weapon in the center showed up as a huge dot on the map, with the system providing the exact coverage area and bombardment zone.

Ji Fu looked up and saw that the ultra-star-class heavy weapon had locked onto the black mechas on the ground, the turret barrels lighting up simultaneously.

In broad daylight, the blaze was so intense that it nearly blinded anyone looking at it.

Just before the ultra-star-class shells fired, Ji Fu suddenly activated the super starship’s full speed.

Similar to the ultra-star-class weapon made from the entire underground base, her super starship was also ultra-star-class.

After modifications, the starship was incredibly fast, gliding above the ultra-star-class heavy weapon in just 0.23 seconds.

[Target lost]

The base heavy weapon issued a prompt.

Before the operators below could react, the starship tore through the sky and, with a loud boom, scattered countless black sea water in all directions.

Boom!

The super starship, typically able to carry hundreds of heavy mechas, had most of its space converted into a reservoir by Ji Fu.

Before coming to this research facility, she had filled this massive reservoir to the brim.

In essence, her super starship was a mobile black sea!

The black sea water, once removed from the contaminated zone, wasn’t as aggressive.

But Ji Fu didn’t play by the rules; she added special agents to the black sea water.

This turned the already polluting black sea water highly corrosive.

The three hundred black mechas below were all coated with special anti-corrosion agents and were inherently resistant to pollution.

Each black mecha was equipped with a protective shield, coordinated by the intelligent system.

As the corrosive black sea water rained down, it was a spectacular sight. The combination of pollutants and corrosive agents extinguished the ultra-star-class heavy weapon’s fire.

Water gushed down, corroding through the massive weapon’s top.

It was like dousing a blazing fire with a bucket of cold water, extinguishing all the shells before they could explode.

The violent downpour of black sea water soaked the ultra-star-class shells, rendering them useless.

Her actions left viewers in the livestream stunned.

Meanwhile, the person who had activated the heavy weapon in the underground base was furious.

Seeing so many trump cards corroded, she turned and released an ultra-star-plus-class mecha made of unknown materials.

Its bombardment cannon emitted a powerful electric current.

From a distance, it looked like a lightning bolt shooting out.

The cannon fired, and the electric current sparked violently through the black sea water.

In the rising flames, the strange ultra-star-plus-class mecha charged at their starship.

With a critical electric punch, it tore through the air, aiming to smash the entire starship with a single blow.

Even an ultra-star-class starship would be pierced by the powerful electric current.

The mecha moved swiftly, but Ji Fu’s reaction was quicker.

Amid the explosive purple currents, she activated two low-altitude turrets on the starship.

At the moment of impact, the turrets fired two golden-red quantum beams.

Buzz—

The beams tore through everything, like two giant blades tempered in molten gold, piercing through the mecha’s electric punch and hitting its body.

The beams generated massive sparks, setting the mecha ablaze with a roaring fire.

The purple mecha turned into a giant figure engulfed in flames.

The intense flames caused the pilot inside to suffer excruciating pain.

Ji Fu’s eyes lifted slightly; even this assault hadn’t burned through the enemy’s engine.

The flames crackled fiercely but avoided the engine, as if something was shielding it.

“What is this thing?” Qin Chu Yue asked.

Ji Fu responded coldly, “A special-star-class engine.”

Another mecha equipped with a special-star-class engine.

She tapped on the screen, notifying Wei Lan: “You can move now.”

As soon as she spoke, the mecha bay doors opened. Wei Lan, piloting Endless, used a 70-meter-long giant blade, severing the ridge of the distant mountain with a single strike.

Boom!

The mountain shattered in response.

The burning ultra-star-plus-class mecha turned around incredulously amidst the roaring noise.

Everyone in the research facility had concentrated on this base, placing even the ultra-star-class heavy weapon here. Li Qingqing never imagined Ji Fu would split the distant mountain ridge.

The mountain collapsed, revealing an entrance to a base.

Seeing this, Li Qingqing, enduring the intense burning pain, swiftly dashed to intercept Wei Lan.

Bang!

The ultra-star-plus-class mecha, powered by the special-star-class engine, lashed out with a mechanical whip.

The whip, charged with electricity, ignited in flames due to Li Qingqing’s ongoing blaze.

With a thunderous crash, it struck in front of Wei Lan.

But before the heavy blow landed, Wei Lan switched his giant blade for a black mechanical disassembly knife.

He rose swiftly, slicing Li Qingqing’s burning right arm with the disassembly knife before her strike could land.

Amidst the intense burning and surging electric currents, Wei Lan swung his blade again.

Crack, snap.

He used sheer mechanical strength to forcefully break open the supposedly invulnerable special-star-class engine.

And this immense power, capable of nearly warping space, didn’t stop at one strike.

Crack, crack, crack!

Three consecutive hits bent the ultra-star-class mechanical disassembly knife, yet he used this warped blade to smash open the engine of the mecha before him!

As the engine exploded, he discarded the ruined disassembly knife and punched open the mecha’s cockpit.

The hatch burst open, revealing Li Qingqing’s lifeless face.

The live stream chat paused for a moment before everyone realized what had happened.

[Is this… Li Qingqing, the most talented of the Li family?]

Li Qingqing had vanished after the fall of the Li family.

No one had heard from her for so long.

No one expected her to appear here today.

Ji Fu wasn’t surprised by this outcome.

Qin Yebai had hidden in the research facility in a similar manner.

Li Qingqing following suit wasn’t unusual.

But more importantly…

[I remember Li Qingqing had only reached the star level when she disappeared, right?]

[…Another vampire. Judging by her performance just now, she’s at least ultra-star level now, right?]

Not just that.

Li Qingqing was already close to ultra-star-plus level.

From her disappearance until now, it had only been a few months.

This meant she had been advancing by using others’ talents, doing so at a pace and efficiency faster than some within the major families.

Ji Fu’s face turned cold.

She halted the super starship, and with Wei Lan supporting her in his mecha arm, approached the blasted mountain.

This base had a very complex verification system.

Ji Fu opened her light brain, hacked into the system, and forcefully broke open the base doors.

Bang!

Once the doors opened, what lay before everyone were pale faces.

A dead silence fell over the scene.

The research facility had secretly built a dark, damp prison beneath the mountains.

And this underground prison was filled with ordinary people!

The audience was stunned.

The live chat paused for a moment before everyone’s anger reached its peak.

[Someone mentioned earlier that once they got a taste of this, they’d surely target ordinary people. I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.]

[Damn, do they really think of people as their blood bags?]

[…They’re mostly young people, and a quick scan already showed several who didn’t survive.]

An unprecedented wave of fury swept through everyone watching the live stream.

Previously, the slaughterhouse had only released some footage. This time, it was a live broadcast!

Seeing so many ordinary people being persecuted firsthand, no one could contain their anger.

[This world is getting more absurd by the day. They claim to be an alliance for the citizens, but behind the scenes, they treat people like livestock. Yet Ji Fu, the wanted criminal, who supposedly vowed to kill, rescues so many people with her ‘most evil’ black mechas right after escaping.]

【And they call it a slaughterhouse; who’s the real executioner here?】

Over the past three days, the exposure of the Pig Plan, the revelation of the tip of the iceberg, and the undeniable facts laid bare have finally caused a massive uproar.

Citizens, who had previously remained silent, could no longer hold back and launched comprehensive resistance against the Alliance and the major families.

【Anti-Alliance, Punish the Families】

Ji Fu’s original statement ignited a fire in everyone’s hearts.

Overnight, it swept across the entire galaxy.

Angry galactic citizens crashed the Alliance’s official website, tore up the wanted posters for Ji Fu and others, and even gathered protest squads demanding the Alliance’s resignation at the gates of the Imperial Star Alliance.

Once the voices of resistance started, they did not cease.

Including the Galactic Academy and the Legion, all sparked intense waves of resistance following the second live broadcast from the slaughterhouse.

The Galactic Academy publicly announced:

They would unconditionally accept all innocent victims rescued by the slaughterhouse in this heinous event.

Multiple starships set off from the academy, heading towards the asteroid location sent by Ji Fu.

Before everyone arrived, Ji Fu hacked into the internal network of the research facility.

Since this attack was broadcasted live, all documents and operations were systematically destroyed once the attack began.

However, due to the brief time since the destruction, Ji Fu intercepted part of the content through her system infiltration.

From the intercepted content, it was revealed that this research facility was the newest among over ten facilities.

It was established just a few months ago.

This coincided with Li Qingqing’s escape and her seeking refuge with Qin Yebai.

Qin Yebai had likely harbored intentions towards ordinary citizens for a long time.

However, his research did not progress smoothly, unlike the stable results of the Fierce Russell and Blue Russel substances.

Li Qingqing, in some sense, was Qin Yebai’s experimental subject.

He conducted multiple experiments on her, aiming to extract more talents and accelerate personal talent growth.

Therefore, the extraction method here differed from the Pig Plan.

After rescuing the victims, Ji Fu discovered a concealed laboratory under the dark prison.

The lab contained many devices.

The most notable were two devices resembling medical capsules.

From the remaining documents, Ji Fu learned that this device was called the 【Talent Extraction Converter】.

It operated by directly extracting talents from living individuals and infusing them into another person.

The method was direct and brutal.

Those subjected to this extraction endured immense pain.

It was highly likely that they would die shortly after the extraction.

Similarly, those receiving others’ talents also suffered greatly.

Ji Fu saw that Li Qingqing’s physical data already indicated imminent collapse.

If they hadn’t discovered this facility today, she probably wouldn’t have survived for a few more months.

Because of this, the research direction was forced to pause.

They found this facility because, after the research was paused, Li Qingqing had a falling out with Qin Yebai and started conducting experiments on her own.

Ji Fu’s satellite detected a large number of talent signals in the area.

These signals came from the ordinary people imprisoned here.

After the Pig Plan was exposed, Qin Yebai intended to disband this facility.

But Li Qingqing refused.

She believed that Qin Yebai’s move was an attempt to abandon her.

After the fall of the Li family, she cooperated with Qin Yebai, who had promised to help her quickly advance to Ultra Star+.

Qin Chu Yue extracted a lot of information about their entanglements from Li Qingqing’s light brain.

In the later stages, Li Qingqing’s mindset approached madness.

She came from the Li family and couldn’t be unaware of her physical condition, but she always believed Qin Yebai wouldn’t harm her.

“Before the Li family’s downfall, Li Qingqing often extracted others’ talents for herself, but it seems she did it to follow Qin Yebai,” Qin Chu Yue frowned. “After the fall of the Li family, she blamed everything on us.”

“Yet she loved Qin Yebai to the point of madness.” Qin Chu Yue was momentarily speechless. “… Based on the current information, it’s highly likely that her father Li Qingqing’s sudden death was orchestrated by Qin Yebai.”

“She’s truly delusional, treating this person as her savior.”

Ji Fu had no comment.

She merely held the milk can in her hand, her eyes flickering.

“In the operation records, there’s a report on Fang Yanli’s talent advancement.” Ji Fu looked at the person beside her, “Fang Yanli is also an advancement-type talent.”

Calculating carefully, Fang Yanli’s years and speed of advancement were similar to Wei Lan’s.

Moreover, Fang Yanli’s final advancement to Special Star level occurred during a large-scale black hole beast tide.

According to Qin Yebai’s notes, Fang Yanli and her teammates were trapped in a polluted area, surrounded by special star-level beasts.

As her teammates fell one by one before her eyes, it triggered Fang Yanli.

In desperation, she advanced to the Special Star level and used an Ultra Star+ mecha to kill all the special star-level beasts.

Fang Yanli’s face blindness also developed after that battle.

Combining the scene when Fang Yanli first manifested her talent, Qin Yebai’s conclusion was: stress-induced advancement.

In other words, for talents like theirs, advancement would trigger in response to certain stimuli.

Ji Fu took a sip of milk and looked at Wei Lan .

Wei Lan, too.

Ever since Ji Fu brought him back to Purgatory Star, his talents had advanced directly.

Ji Fu speculated that on the day she rescued him, something must have triggered an acute reaction in him, directly stimulating his latent talents.

Following this line of experimentation, it might be possible to rapidly enhance Wei Lan ’s talents in a short period.

The advancement of their talents was directly related to their chances against Qin Yebai.

Ji Fu had already found a clear path for advancing her talents.

The primary focus now was to elevate Wei Lan ’s talents and then figure out a way to kill special star-level beasts.

Obtaining materials from these beasts would allow them to create potions to enhance her talents.

If either of them could achieve the special star level, it would mark Qin Yebai’s end.

With this in mind, Ji Fu almost immediately stood up and pulled Wei Lan  into the nearby laboratory.

She carefully recalled everything that had happened the day she found Wei Lan  years ago.

While doing so, she opened a medical capsule and had Wei Lan  lie inside.

This process lasted for three days.

During these three days, Ji Fu tried everything she could think of, even simulating the temperature, sky color, and the clothes she wore that day.

But…

None of it worked.

She leaned against the front of the medical capsule, staring at Wei Lan , deep in thought.

When she looked up, she found herself staring into Wei Lan ’s deep eyes.

His dark eyes reflected Ji Fu’s image.

Ji Fu paused.

A very absurd idea suddenly came to her.

Under Wei Lan ‘s intense gaze, she turned on all the instruments.

The numbers on the control panel, which had not changed for days, were almost memorized by her.

In the brightly lit laboratory, Ji Fu, without warning, placed her hand on Wei Lan ’s chest.

Lan froze, lowering his eyes slightly to look at the hand inside his shirt.

Her palm was dry and slightly cool.

Yet, the skin touched by her palm felt like it was on fire, burning intensely.

Ji Fu looked up and saw his tense face and the wildly beating heart beneath her hand. She cleared her throat.

The next moment, she noticed the previously static numbers on Wei Lan ’s panel suddenly spiking as she made contact.

Ji Fu: …

So, it turns out she was the trigger for Wei Lan all along?